General

The Enhancing Customary Justice Systems in the Mau Forest (Justice) Project piloted an approach for improving women’s access to customary justice, particularly related to women’s land rights, by enhancing the customary justice system in one target area. The work also resulted in a clearer understanding of the relationships between customary and statutory institutions and laws, and the development of a model to promote the integration of informal and formal justice systems. The pilot activity complemented other USAID programs in Kenya focused on addressing land/resource tenure, access to justice, and governance challenges, in the upper Mara River catchment area within the Mau Forest Complex, Kenya (“Mau”). By design, this project has relied extensively on assessments and other information, for and under the ProMara project, gathered since February 2010. The pilot project lasted from 2010 – 2012 and a follow-on project began in 2013. The follow-on project seeks to share the Kenya Justice Project approach as well as results and lessons learned from the Project evaluation to explore opportunities and support for broader sustainable application throughout Kenya, particularly focused on formalizing and institutionalizing linkages and processes between the formal and informal justice sectors, consistent with Article 159 of Kenya’s Constitution. Objectives Develop basic justice modules to train traditional leaders on provisions of the Kenyan Constitution and National Land Policy. Build capacity within the customary justice system to more effectively perform duties. Build women’s capacity to govern and to know, understand, and exercise their rights. Support justice learning related to the Kenyan Constitution and the National Land Policy within schools and families. Raise community’s legal awareness. Outcomes Chiefs publicly issued a new Katiba (local constitution) to guide their decision making and legal responsibilities to the community. Significant increases in women’s access to land and control over household level decision-making around land and other family assets. In addition, several women in the community now have their names on land titles, including widows. Two of the Ol Pusimoru sub-locations elected 14 women elders out of 50 total in 2012. This election of women as elders is the first within the Maasai and Kalenjin communities. The number of women elders grew to 22 in 2013 and 33 out of 50 elders total in 2014. Chiefs and elders now require spousal consent (with witnesses) for all land transactions, including leases. In the Ol Mariko sub-location, women who received training made the request that elders no longer hear rape cases. The elder council agreed with the request and is now referring all such cases to formal legal systems. Trained 34 women in environmental and forest management and alternative dispute resolution. These women then conducted over 20 peer sessions, reaching more than 268 women.

General

The Knowledge Management and Technical Support Services (KMTSS) project provided Knowledge Management support to the Land Tenure and Property Rights (LTPR) Division based on needs identified through a consultation process; and assisted in the development and implementation of a communication strategy. USAID’s LTPR Division had produced a significant amount of information over the past decade, which was continually being built upon and enhanced. From 2010-2011 alone, the LTPR Division more than doubled in size. Previous efforts to make information accessible had been challenging and costly. USAID staff, partners, and others engaged in international development activities require tools to more effectively share critical data and work together seamlessly. Implementation of a proper Knowledge Management (KM) programmatic approach improves performance, enhances competitive advantage, drives innovation, and enables sharing of lessons learned. KM allows integration and continuous improvement of the organizational operations. Additionally, While KM is important, it is not sufficient to meet the needs of broadcasting best lessons and methodologies to address land tenure challenges. Therefore, the development and implementation of a communication strategy was essential to complement KM programmatic approach. Objectives Review of LTPR web portal and recommendations for improved design, accessibility and performance; Implementation of recommendations to improve land tenure portal; Content for the portal describing USAID land tenure activities and programs; Review and reprogram portal to link with other web platforms that will allow blogging and other types of communication interface; Reduced time and cost for posting USAID briefs and other publications to the portal; New information management strategies developed to better communicate USAID’s land tenure programs, and linking these strategies to other internal and external web systems; Database of USAID’s land tenure programs, and tracking mechanism for report approval process; Develop database and report format to track LTPR Unit achievements, and develop marketing strategy for improved visibility of the Unit’s work; In collaboration with LTPR unit, develop Communication Strategy, and implement it. Implementation will be measured by development of at least one marketing campaign and placement of not less than 25 blogs, articles or publications in new and old media per year. Outcomes Conducted a portal scan and assessment, including feedback on content, structure, and key messages from the LTPR Division and from the public; Built a new website in the Drupal content management software; Created 116 commentaries, three USAID FrontLines articles, and six USAID IMPACT blogs; Managed portal content and organizational structure; Developed a social media strategy, which was approved and implemented, resulting in 507 tweets and 1,399 referrals to the portal; Provided framework and support for the development of new communication strategy for Division; Developed a Deliverable Approval Tracking System, a web-based platform for uploading, monitoring, reviewing, revising, and approving project documents and reports under the Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights (STARR) contract mechanism; Developed a Partner Portal for STARR implementing partners to access project reports from current and previous USAID LTPR programs.